Witham Boxing Day 5 Miles

Friday 26 December

While a number of their clubmates were in action in the Annual Boxing day Handicap in Hainault Forest 2 Ilford AC members took to the roads of Witham
Malcom Muir was in good festive season form coming home in 9th spot in 27m 18s to take the M40 category prize. Meanwhile sister Carol placed 277th in a field of 376 in 47m 08s.

Essex Cross-Country Championships
Claybury Park, Woodford
Saturday 3 January

This years Essex Cross-Country Championships were held in the toughest conditions for years as heavy overnight rain turned the course around Claybury Park in Woodford into a muddy quagmire with freezing drizzle persisting throughout the event.

Best performance for Ilford AC came from Ahmed Abdulle in the mens u-17 age group where he took the bronze medal. Finding the conditions tough going Ahmed was up with the 2 leaders as they broke away from the pack but slipped back in the closing stages and had to settle for a creditable 3rd place in 19m 23s.
His training partner Usamah Patel steadily worked his way through the field for 8th place in 20m 08s and both of the athletes have now been selected to represent essex. Closing the team was Jack Maher in 32nd place with 23m 47s.
The day started with the 3000m races for the u-13 age groups. In the boys event for Ilford were Manraij Gill in 19th in 13m 37s, Bradley Deacon placed 34th with 14m 43s and Aran Mangel finished 38th in 15m 02s, while the girls were represented by Isabella Hick recording 16m 56s for 36th spot in her first outing in these championships.

The senior ladies raced over a 5 mile 3 lap course and the Ilford team were headed by Krystle Balogun who ran a strong last lap to finished 17th in 35m 43s while Jenni Sheehan showed a big improvement from last year coming home 44th in 39m 10s. Mel Jones gave her usual gritty performance in 52nd with 41m 33s. Bree Nordin closed out the team in 42m 31s for 60th. Ilford were the 8th club to finish a team. Also running were Nicola Hopkinson in 78th with 45m 11s and newcomer to the squad Doris Gaga came home 114th.

The last race of the day was the senior mens championship which was also over 3 laps but the total distance was 7.5 miles, Ilford were led by Malcolm Muir who battled through to place 17th in 42m 26s, closely followed by Tom Gardner in 42m 45s for 19th. Steve Philcox showed good form in 51st with 46m 28s , while Kevin Newell placed 67th in 47m 30s with Paul Holloway next over the line 5 seconds later. Sam Rahman closed the scoring 6 in spot 89th with 49m 26s. It was a good performance from Ilford who were the 4th club to finish a team. Also in action were Neil Crisp (100th 50m 3s) and Terry Knightley (170th 59m 13s)

South of England Masters Cross-Country Championships
Horspath, Oxford,Saturday 13th December

A small contingent of Ilford veterans made the trek to a cold but sunny Oxford last Saturday to compete over a tough but very interesting 10k course with a good mix of grassland, farm tracks and calf high mud plus two big hills thrown in for good measure.The 4 entrants each running in different age categories produced some good runs with the following age group results :- Malc Muir 8th M40 Paul Holloway 17th M45 Steve Cheal 56th M50 Andy Catton 5th M60.

More significantly at the other end of the age spectrum Ahmed Abdulle ran brilliantly to finish 3rd in the Southern Inter Counties U17 race. With another year in the age group Ahmed worked his way through to 3rd and only missed out on silver medal by one second.

Southend 5 mileRudolph Run
Sunday 14th December
3 Hardy souls from Ilford Athletic Club braved the crisp, cold, windy conditions on Southend Sea Front to compete in the 4th Staging of The Southend Five Mile Rudolph Run. In a field of well over 300 runners, some decked out as Santas and Elves in keeping with the festive nature of the event.
Terry Knightley, winner of the original inaugural race, finished this year in11th place overall to win the First Male  Veteran Over 50 Prize in a time of 33 Minutes and 30 seconds.Next home for the club in 18th
position and winning the First Male Veteran Over 40 prize was Bradley Brown in35 Minutes and 6 seconds.
Female Over 40 Veteran, Carol Muir, finished next in 138th Position in 45 Minutes and 37 seconds and 8th in her age category.All Finishers of the race were awarded Christmas Puddings and Mince Pies
along with their medals and prizes !

Essex Veteran Cross Country Championships
Chigwell Row
Saturday 29 November
Veteran athletes from all over Essex enjoyed ideal running conditions in some warm autumnal sunshine as they tackled a classic challenging cross country course hosted by Ilford AC at their Chigwell Row venue last Saturday morning. The heavy rain leading up to the Essex XC Veterans Championship event had produced some very boggy conditions as the first race combining the over 50s men category with the women set off from the Common opposite Lambourne Road at 11am. Within 200 metres of the start the 200 strong field were into the worst of the long muddy climb which had to be negotiated twice on the 2 lap course of 5.4 miles.
Neil Crisp led the men’s A team home finishing 21st in 38.49. A strong run by Andy Catton was rewarded by a silver medal in the V60 category clocking 39.22 for 26th. He was followed in by Terry Knightley, 54th in 44.00 and Steve Parker who closed in 60th place in 45.28.The “B” team was headed by John Mackenzie 76th in 48.38 who was joined by Steve Cheal, 87th in 50.50, Rob Sargent 94th in 53.56 and Graham Williams 104th in 61.36 who also took the bronze in the over 70s. The two Ilford mens teams were 9th and 17th respectively out of the 17teams competing. The mens 50s race was won by Colchester’s Colin Ridley in 35.00.

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The ladies race produced the run of the day with Sarah Stradling Colchester Harriers taking the women’s title clocking 36.00 and beating the 3rd man home in the process. Bree Nordin led the women’s squad home in 30th position,46.32, a performance which also took the W55 gold medal. She was well supported by Mel Jones,33rd,46.53,Nicola Hopkinson,45th,49.99 and Pam Jones, a silver medalist in the W65s in 92nd and 64.02. The Ilford ladies team placed 11th out of the competing 16 teams.
The younger veteran 40 men set off in their separate race an hour later with a reduced field of only 67 runners due to many last minute cancellations. The course, by now badly churned up. was much to the liking of Ilford’s Malcolm Muir who started as one of the three favourites with Orion’s international triathlete Nick Sasha and former Essex Senior XC Champion Kevin Murphy of Woodford Green. Indeed it was these three that made the early pace with former winner Alan Smalls of Colchester and Barny Foot of Orion giving chase. By halfway Sasha had set up a 100 metre lead on the Ilford man with Murphy about the same distance adrift in 3rd. Going up the last climb it seemed that Murphy might catch Muir having closed to within 25 metres but Muir used his speed to pull away again through the flatter section through the woods and the long sprint in back across the common. It finished Sasha 1st in 32.51, Muir 2nd in 33.14 and Muir 3rd in 33.37.
Steve Philcox was another Ilford man producing an excellent run making 10th position with 35.31 and Kevin Wotton adding great support placing 27th in 37.31. Unfortunately The Club were unable to close a team of 4 in this race due to the forced retirement of Tony Hyde who sustained an injury on the first lap.

Serpentine 5km
Hyde Park
Friday 28 November

Two runners from Ilford Ac ran in the November edition of the Last Friday of the Month 5km in Hyde Park. Carol Muir came home 220th and 36th female in 26min 40 secs, while Pam Jones was once agin first in the F75 category in 30m 46s

Kingston 10km
Sunday 30 November

Club newcomer Doris Gaga travelled to Surrey to run in the Kingston 10km recording 59m 09s for 106th female and 323rd in a field of over 450 starters.